Language and Culture: Exploring the Multilingual World of V. & D. Povall

Hello again, readers!

This week we wanted to share more details on an aspect of our writing that is a bit...recherché. 

It's our multilingualism. 

(See what we did there?)

(¿Ves lo que hicimos allí?)

(Tu vois ce qu'on a fait là?)

Victoria is fluent in French, Spanish, and English, and David is fluent in English and Spanish (his French is nothing to éternuer at either). As a result, there are a lot of languages flying around the house, and that has a major impact on our writing as well. 

But really, when we talk about multilingualism, we're talking about multiculturalism. Since we're both the product of different cultures, we've been blessed with a broad perspective of people. That background combined with multiple languages unlocks more perspectives and styles of writing for us. 

We've infused that into all of our novels. 

For example, in our first novel, The Gift of the Twin Houses, our main character Sarah has a Spanish mother, Mexican father, and French grandmother. She uses a multigenerational family cookbook with recipes from those cultures. Similarly, in the second book of that series, the character Daniel has amnesia, yet speaks perfect French and cooks delectable French food (coq au vin anyone?) 

If this is making you hungry, you can find all the recipes from the novels on our website. 

The multitude of races and societies in our space opera novel Ascension: Kelahya Unbound is a reflection of our desire to embrace and understand different cultures. 

And in our forthcoming novel, An Educated Death, our main character Justin Pierce was born in Mexico to American parents, and teams up with a well-known Mexican archeologist. Because of that, a lot of Spanish words are interjected throughout. 

Although Victoria dreams in French, Spanish, and English, and David also dreams in Spanish and English, we almost always write in English. Occasionally something will pop up into our minds in Spanish, but we switch to English as soon as possible. 

The only time it can become challenging is when you get into the finer points of sentence structure, you can get tripped up. But because there are two of us, and one is a native English speaker, we've been able to escape any traps. 

We strongly believe that multiculturalism adds depth to our characters' dialogue and interactions, and we're lucky to have that multiculturalism in our own lives. That makes it easier to put those different traits into our characters. We also think it brings a unique flavor to our novels, regardless of genre. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

à bientôt,

~2authors

~DosAutores

~DeuxAuteurs